Re: [mythsoc] The Father Christmas Letters Conundrum

Glenn, ... Letters from Father Christmas was last published, as a trade paperback only, by HarperCollins in 2009. That edition restored most of the images

Message 1 of 7
, Sep 6 7:42 PM

Glenn,

Amazon UK is showing a new
edition of Letters from Father Christmas later this month, this one
clocking in at 192 pages and claiming "This revised edition of
Tolkien's famous illustrated letters from Father Christmas to his
children includes a number of pictures and letters that have not been
seen in print before." Does anyone (Christina? Wayne?) know if this
edition is truly going to include things that have not already been
available since the 1990s revised editions, or is this just a slick
marketing job? If I'm not mistaken, this title was reissued just several
years ago and marketed as containing "new" material
...

Letters from Father Christmas was last published, as a trade
paperback only, by HarperCollins in 2009. That edition restored most of
the images present in the 1999 edition but removed in 2004, omitted a few
images even so, and included four images not previously published; but
many of the pictures were reduced in size, to fit a smaller book format,
and some of its colour reproduction left something to be desired.
Christina compared all of the editions of the "Father
Christmas" letters, and described how the individual letters were
(or were not) reproduced, differences in transcription, and the relative
quality of the reproductions, in Tolkien Collector 31 (Dec.
2010).

From public sources, it certainly looks as if the new hardback edition
will have additional material. The 2009 edition has 160 pages; the new
one is said to have 192, a substantial increase which (if that page count
is correct) we assume is due to more material rather than to, say, a
larger typesetting. Also, Amazon UK mentions that the book is to contain
"brand new high-quality digital reproductions". We'll be
interested to see it.

Wayne & Christina

hen8wen

Many thanks -- any guesses as to when we can expect to have all of this material available rather than a George Lucas-ish let s add a few never before seen

Message 2 of 7
, Sep 6 8:54 PM

Many thanks -- any guesses as to when we can expect to have all of this material available rather than a George Lucas-ish let's add a few "never before seen" things to this edition once every decade or so?

Glenn

--- In mythsoc@yahoogroups.com, "Wayne G. Hammond" <Wayne.G.Hammond@...> wrote:
>
> Glenn,
>
> >Amazon UK is showing a new edition of Letters from Father Christmas
> >later this month, this one clocking in at 192 pages and claiming
> >"This revised edition of Tolkien's famous illustrated letters from
> >Father Christmas to his children includes a number of pictures and
> >letters that have not been seen in print before." Does anyone
> >(Christina? Wayne?) know if this edition is truly going to include
> >things that have not already been available since the 1990s revised
> >editions, or is this just a slick marketing job? If I'm not
> >mistaken, this title was reissued just several years ago and
> >marketed as containing "new" material ...
>
> Letters from Father Christmas was last published, as a trade
> paperback only, by HarperCollins in 2009. That edition restored most
> of the images present in the 1999 edition but removed in 2004,
> omitted a few images even so, and included four images not previously
> published; but many of the pictures were reduced in size, to fit a
> smaller book format, and some of its colour reproduction left
> something to be desired. Christina compared all of the editions of
> the "Father Christmas" letters, and described how the individual
> letters were (or were not) reproduced, differences in transcription,
> and the relative quality of the reproductions, in Tolkien Collector
> 31 (Dec. 2010).
>
> From public sources, it certainly looks as if the new hardback
> edition will have additional material. The 2009 edition has 160
> pages; the new one is said to have 192, a substantial increase which
> (if that page count is correct) we assume is due to more material
> rather than to, say, a larger typesetting. Also, Amazon UK mentions
> that the book is to contain "brand new high-quality digital
> reproductions". We'll be interested to see it.
>
> Wayne & Christina
>

Wayne G. Hammond

... We couldn t say, but once we see the new edition we ll know how close to complete it is. We ve examined the original Father Christmas letters file at

Message 3 of 7
, Sep 8 4:53 AM

Many thanks -- any
guesses as to when we can expect to have all of this material available
rather than a George Lucas-ish let's add a few "never before
seen" things to this edition once every decade or
so?

We couldn't say, but once we see the new edition we'll know how close to
complete it is. We've examined the original "Father Christmas"
letters file at Oxford.

Wayne & Christina

JOSEPH

On a vaguely related note, these days if I wanted to get all of Tolkien s non-LotR material (Smith/Giles, Leaf by Niggle, On Fairy Storie, etc., etc.), what

Message 4 of 7
, Sep 8 7:30 AM

On a vaguely related note, these days if I wanted to get all of Tolkien's non-LotR material (Smith/Giles, Leaf by Niggle, On Fairy Storie, etc., etc.), what volumes would I need to buy? A quick scan of Amazon shows Tales from the Perilous Realm and the Tolkien Reader, but I'm not sure how much overlap there is between the two volumes, and what might be missing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Joe

--- In mythsoc@yahoogroups.com, "Wayne G. Hammond" <Wayne.G.Hammond@...> wrote:
>
>
> >Many thanks -- any guesses as to when we can expect to have all of
> >this material available rather than a George Lucas-ish let's add a
> >few "never before seen" things to this edition once every decade or so?
>
> We couldn't say, but once we see the new edition we'll know how close
> to complete it is. We've examined the original "Father Christmas"
> letters file at Oxford.
>
> Wayne & Christina
>

Wayne G. Hammond

Joe, ... Both Tales from the Perilous Realm and The Tolkien Reader include The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham, and Leaf by Niggle. Tales also

Message 5 of 7
, Sep 9 11:53 AM

Joe,

On a vaguely related note, these
days if I wanted to get all of Tolkien's non-LotR material (Smith/Giles,
Leaf by Niggle, On Fairy Storie, etc., etc.), what volumes would I need
to buy? A quick scan of Amazon shows Tales from the Perilous Realm and
the Tolkien Reader, but I'm not sure how much overlap there is between
the two volumes, and what might be missing.

Both Tales from the Perilous Realm and The Tolkien Reader
include The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of
Ham, and Leaf by Niggle. Tales also has Smith of
Wootton Major and, in the current edition (but not the older one of
the same title), Roverandom. The Tolkien Reader also has
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth and On Fairy-Stories (as part
of Tree and Leaf with Leaf by Niggle), and includes (though
diminished in reproduction) Pauline Baynes's illustrations for
Giles and Bombadil.

Both of these books are fine if you're not particular about the editing
or added material. Farmer Giles of Ham is also available
separately in the edition prepared for its 50th anniversary by Hammond
and Scull, with our introduction and notes and transcriptions of
Tolkien's first manuscript version of the story and notes for a sequel.
Roverandom likewise has a separate edition with our introduction
and notes and Tolkien's related illustrations. On Fairy-Stories
and Leaf by Niggle are still available in a separate edition as
Tree and Leaf, together with Beorhtnoth and Tolkien's poem
Mythopoeia. On Fairy-Stories has also been published
separately with significant added material edited by Verlyn Flieger and
Douglas A. Anderson. Verlyn has also edited an important edition of
Smith of Wootton Major which includes Tolkien's long essay related
to the work.

Wayne

Wayne G. Hammond

Joe, ... Not to forget the scholarly writings by Tolkien, again including On Fairy-Stories, collected in The Monsters and the Critics and Other Essays. Wayne

Message 6 of 7
, Sep 9 11:56 AM

Joe,

On a vaguely related note, these
days if I wanted to get all of Tolkien's non-LotR material (Smith/Giles,
Leaf by Niggle, On Fairy Storie, etc., etc.), what volumes would I need
to buy? A quick scan of Amazon shows Tales from the Perilous Realm and
the Tolkien Reader, but I'm not sure how much overlap there is between
the two volumes, and what might be missing.

Not to forget the scholarly writings by Tolkien, again including On
Fairy-Stories, collected in The Monsters and the Critics and Other
Essays.

Wayne

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